In our house, Christmas meant so many different things: Giving, faith, fun and especially family. We always understood that no matter what, nothing was more important than all these things.

Stan Holmes

We often look back at all our moments and, man, do we laugh at the fun we all shared in the Holmes household. When you raise six kids, believe me, things can get a little crazy during the holidays.

So what was Christmas like in our home every year? We would open one present the night before and no matter what you only could open one.

At the very moment when they were ready to open their present, we would ask the question, what are you thankful for? We always have been a family that is grateful for all the blessings that God has stored upon us.

Man, the great moments I remember most are about them opening that one present the night before. It was great to see each child shaking each present with their name on it just to make sure they open the right one.

Hope it was the make-up kit and doll they were hoping for all year long or the CD player and, yes, the one gift everyone had to share so they could all get along. You can imagine how that worked out.

Sometimes we would switch out the boxes. They would open the box with a Nintendo on the front but to their surprise it might have a radio inside of it. Man, they would give us that not-funny look: Now, where are real the presents?

Secondly, in the morning no one could open their presents until every child was up and our niece always seemed to be the last one out of the bed on that day. During that time of waiting for each of them to rise, those who were up would help with breakfast. One would cook the bacon, another sausage, eggs, pancakes, hash browns. Whatever that Shoney’s had for breakfast, we had it too.

With all the great fun we had on the blessed day, we can all say that nothing could be greater than the memories we have to share.

There may have been moments where they argued about playing with someone else’s toy or, “Please don’t touch my stuff.” But in the end, we still have family.

So if you look in our window on Christmas day, yes, we will be playing Shoney’s breakfast at our home and waiting for everyone to come over before we open any of our presents.

Thank God for the blessing of our family Ceesha, Teran, Tabitha, Micah, Chianta’ (Tat-Tay) and Little Pamela (Nay-Nay). The Holmes family prays you all have a blessed Christmas and happy New Year.